Baseball

Baseball Falls into Loser's Bracket with 2-1 Loss to Top Seed Monmouth

May 20, 2011

The Central Connecticut baseball team dropped into the loser's
bracket of the 2011 Northeast Conference Tournament after a 2-1
loss to top seed Monmouth on Friday afternoon. Central held a 1-0
lead until the eighth inning when the Hawks scored both of their
runs. The Blue Devils will play Long Island in the first
elimination game at 12 p.m. on Saturday afternoon in Norwich,
CT.

With the loss the Blue Devils are now 25-24-1 on the season.
Monmouth improves to 35-17 with the victory and advances to the
winner's bracket on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Monmouth loaded the bases in the first inning with a pair of hits
and an error. An inning-ending double play ended the threat.

Central turned three double plays in the first three innings to
keep the Hawks off the scoreboard. Monmouth had four hits in the
first three innings.

Central freshman Dylan
DelaCruz singled with one out in the fourth inning to give
Central its first base runner. He went to second on a ground out
and then scored on an RBI single to center field from senior Pat
Epps.

The Hawks tied it up at 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning on
an RBI single from senior Ryan Terry. A sacrifice fly off the bat
of Nick Pulsonetti gave Monmouth the 2-1 lead.

Central sophomore starter Nick
Neumann pitched 7.1 innings allowing seven hits and two runs
in picking up the loss. He is now 5-3 on the season. He struck
out one and walked three. All three walks came in the eighth
inning and two of those runners scored.

The Blue Devils will play either Long Island at noon on Saturday in
the first elimination game of the tournament.